Flipkart now lets you pay for purchases via EMI even with debit cards

Customers can check their eligibility via an SMS, or through Flipkart's app/website.

Of the many payment options that e-commerce portals offer to customers, EMI (Equated Monthly Installment) is arguably the most popular. That’s because it allows payment for a product to be made in small chunks spread over an extended amount of time, thus putting less (financial) strain on the buyer. But as convenient as EMIs are, they are only available with credit cards, which are still not widely-used in India. Consequently, a lot of customers eventually end up not buying products they really want to.

It seems Flipkart wants to change that, which is why the e-tailer has introduced the facility to pay through EMIs even with debit cards. According to Flipkart, availing the facility doesn’t require customers to have a minimum balance in their account. There is no documentation or processing fee involved either.

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Before getting started, a buyer must first find out whether they are eligible for the ‘Debit Card EMI’ facility or not. To do that, they simply have to text <DCEMI> to 57575, from the same cellular number they have registered with their Flipkart account and (salary) bank account. They’ll then get a text message (see below), letting them know about their eligibility status.

Image Credit: Bodhisatwa Ray

Apart from the SMS option, customers can also check eligibility from Flipkart’s app or website. If they are eligible for availing ‘Debit Card EMI,’ the option will show up under ‘Easy Payment Options’ next to the product’s listing.

Availing EMI through debit cards is easy. After the customer has added a product to their cart and moves to the payment options step, they’ll have to select ‘Debit Card EMI’ (We weren’t able to confirm this on our end). Following this, they must select the EMI tenure (in months) and authorize the transaction via bank’s OTP/PIN or Netbanking facility. Once the transaction is confirmed, the product’s cost would be split into equal instalments split over the tenure selected by the customer.

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It seems that currently, this facility is only available to debit card holders of four banks – Axis Bank, HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, and SBI. It’s worth mentioning that availing ‘Debit Card EMI’ will incur interest from the bank, which will have to borne by the customer. Also, if a customer cancels an order after opting for this payment option, they won’t be able to use it again for 90 days.